Vehicle seating systems are required to meet a variety of design specifications, some of which may relate to performance requirements, while others may relate to occupant comfort. Some seating systems use a polymeric foam such as polyurethane as a base material for the seat cushion and seat back, which is then covered by a trim material to enhance aesthetics and comfort. Because the weight of an occupant is not equally distributed over the entire contact area with the seat, different areas of the seat experience different forces when the occupant is seated. Similarly, the occupant experiences different reaction forces in different locations resulting from contact with the seat; this may lead to less than optimal comfort. In addition, a vehicle seat may be a very complex system made up of many different structures—e.g., a seat frame, motors or other mechanical systems for moving the seat, airbags and their associated frame structures, etc. In locations where these structures are in contact with the backside of the foam or other base cushion material, the occupant may experience a higher reaction force, again leading to less than optimal comfort in these locations.
In order to increase comfort and provide other benefits, it would be desirable to control distribution of the forces—and because forces are inevitably distributed over some area, the pressures—experienced by a seated occupant. It would therefore be desirable to have a seating system, and a method for producing such a seating system, that was able to control reaction force, pressure gradients, or both experienced by the seated occupant.